The present invention relates to air conditioning devices but more particularly to an evaporative air cooling device having a high speed of air passing through a curtain of water to thereby cool the same.
Cooling air by means of evaporative cooling has been utilized for many years. Conventional evaporative cooling devices generally include a housing which may be square or round in which an air moving device such as a motor driven centrifugal blower is mounted to induce a flow of ambient air into the housing through water wetted pads, the air is cooled by the evaporative effect and the air moving device delivers the cooled air to a discharge location. Evaporative coolers of the type described above have found a wide acceptance because of their low initial and operational cost and their effectiveness at least during hot periods of relatively dry or low humidity.
This device is intended to stand alone to cool open areas that are not enclosed or at least partially enclosed but are otherwise open to the ambient air.
Porches, lanais or so-called Florida rooms during hot and humid days cannot be used because the ambient air under these conditions is very uncomfortable. The same can be said for garages if one wants to work therein.
More open spaces such as patios or terraces are equally effected by heat and humidity and therefore are less desirous to be used because of the comfort level involved.
There are completely open spaces that should be cooled to some extent at selected locations such as warehouses or workstations that are open to the ambient air. Included in this category are sport fields such as football fields, soccer fields or tennis courts. On football fields, for example, it is known to use axial air flow fans to cool the players on the bench simply by blowing air on them and a cooling effect is obtained by the evaporative effect of the perspiration on the players clothing and/or body. It is also contemplated that evaporatively cooled air is to be delivered to confined areas that should be temporarily cooled and no other cooling is available or feasible.
One such area would be an attic of a house where temporary work has to be performed but the heat prevailing in the same on a hot summer day would make such a task prohibitive. The cooling device of the invention would have an adapter so that a flexible length of an air duct could be connected and the cooled air could be delivered to the desired area.
The above objects of the invention are accomplished by presenting a stand-alone unit that is not connected to any type of building structure. The unit is a multi-sided structure by which air will be taken in by all of the sides of the structure into the interior of the structure by a centrifugal blower and then delivered upwardly to a directional spout. All of the sides of the structure have at their openings evaporative water supplied pads for optimum evaporative air flow. The evaporative cooling devices will be made in different sizes dependent on their intended use and application. In smaller units, the blower would have a direct drive electric motor, while in larger units it would be a belt drive electric motor.
In either application, the centrifugal blower is capable of cooling much greater areas due a much greater force of air distribution.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatically oscillating spout to deliver air evenly across the room.
Further advantages will become apparent in the description of the invention below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,600 to Kelley shows an evaporative cooler that has a multi-sided cabinet with only one evaporative cooling pad contained therein. The multi-sided cabinet creates a tunnel to direct the moving air onto the pad. This is not a stand-alone unit and it is not intended to be so. The cooled air is directed into a confined area below. The unit does show a centrifugal blower to move the air.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,958 to Ella shows an evaporative cooling device using axial air flow fans that move the ambient air to evaporative cooling pads and thereafter to a designated location by flexible air ducts. The structure is a stand-alone unit and it can be moved relative to a supporting surface by means of casters.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,162,088 and 2,856,937 to Peng et al and Harris, respectively, are stand-alone units that are movable relative to a supporting surface by means of casters. Both Patents show the use of axial air flow fans.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,223,884 to Bolan shows an evaporative cooling unit used on an automobile. There is no driven cooling fan of any kind because the slip stream of the moving automobile creates the air flow through a wetted cooling pad. There is a movable air duct to direct cooled air to a predetermined location.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,188,007 to Myklebust is not an evaporative cooling device because there are no wettable cooling pads at all through which air may flow. It is simply a humidifier. It is a stand-alone structure, it uses a centrifugal air blower and the air is moving in from multi-sides. It does show a movable and directional spout to move air in different directions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,350 to Johnson et al discloses a similar evaporative cooling device. However, the device of the Johnson patent has an unnecessary layer, the pre-filter panel 15, that Applicant has found to be unnecessary for operation. Also, the spout 5 of Johnson does not oscillate as does Applicant""s spout.
There are no other known evaporative cooling devices of the invention as claimed.